Digital Media Online is now offering DMNTV.com, an Internet broadcasting channel for the digital media industry. The site features a daily newscast covering industry news, as well as product demos, interviews with industry executives and coverage taken by roving video crews at industry tradeshows. The site utilizes an SGI Media Server with a Kasenna MediaBase to allow users to view QuickTime videos, MPEG-2 and RealVideo streamed at bit rates of 28.8Kb/s to 15Mb/s.
DBS television provider EchoStar Communications Corp. recently launched a new HDTV pay-per-view channel using two high-definition Profile XP Media Platforms from Grass Valley Group. The new channel offers widescreen 16:9 ratio format and Dolby Digital sound.
Enterprise Broadcasting Corp. is using Grass Valley Group's Profile XP Media Platform in its luxury Network Event Centers to play out high-definition programming onto 23-foot screens. The centers are located in malls and city centers across the country, advertising high-end goods and services such as cruises and sports cars.
Fox affiliate KJTV-TV launched their news operation with Grass Valley Group Vibrint and Kalypso systems. The station uses three Vibrint NewsEdit systems to create news and sports packages and a Kalypso system for switching in the news control room.
Crawford Post Production added an HD1012 multistandard switcher from Snell & Wilcox to the HD hybrid linear editing suite in their new Atlanta facility.
Enterprise, Columbine JDS and DAL have merged to form Encoda Systems. The new company will provide integrated systems for buying and selling advertising in electronic media, as well as managing and controlling multichannel transmission of the media.
National Mobile Television and Sportvision have reached an agreement to make Sportvision's video insertion technologies standard equipment on NMT trucks in the United States.
The arrangement is also expected to extend to NMT's European operation.
Avica Technology provided their high-definition Vecta DTV Stillstore for use in the production of the next installment of the Star Wars series, Episode II. The Vecta will be used to perform image quality analysis of production sequences acquired electronically using Sony HDW-F900 24p cameras.
Avica's high-definition FilmStore digital media platform has also been selected by the Entertainment Technology Center in the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. The equipment will be used to play back compressed and uncompressed versions of high quality digital video sequences for the center's evaluation of digital video compression technologies.
An Avant digital console from Solid State Logic was chosen for installation in the sound studio at Maryland Public Television. MPT has used the console in the production of programs including "Outdoors Maryland" and "Maryland: State of Mind."
The Avant was also recently installed at Sony Music Studios to provide multiformat mixing on broadcast, CD and DVD productions. Sony has used the 24-mainframe, 96-channel console to mix a CD for Warner Brothers, a series for VH1 and a Gloria Estefan concert for CBS.
Crawford Audio is using three networked Avant digital consoles for digital operations in its new audio facility. The BBC selected Solid State Logic's 72-channel SL 9000 J SuperAnalogue console for installation in the Golders Green Hippodrome studio, for use with the music of the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Euphonix is providing a second System 5 digital post production console to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment for use in its production facility in Stamford, CT. The console will be used in live production, as well as to mix and sweeten WWFE's in-house productions.
Systems integration company TGS has designed a new studio for WTVI in Charlotte, NC. The new facility will use both Dolby Digital and Dolby E equipment to produce programming for PBS in 5.1 channel surround sound.
Dalet and Coolpit announced a partnership to combine Dalet's knowledge of digital audio broadcasting and multimedia publishing with Coolpit's experience in the customization of websites and development of site management solutions. The partnership will allow the two companies to provide end-to-end audio solutions for webcasters.
Digital System Technology installed ParkerVision's PVTV Studio News automated production system into the news control room at CBS affiliate KGPE-TV, a Fresno, CA, station owned by the Ackerley Group. DST plans 10 more installations of the system in Ackerley Group stations.
A recent demonstration at the NASA Space Communications Technology Center at Florida Atlantic University utilized a Leitch A/D converter system and a 25-mile stretch of fiber optic cable to transmit the signal from a prototype high-definition camera in a 1.5Gb digital video stream.
NBC News Los Angeles used standards converters from Leitch to convert its Olympic coverage from PAL to NTSC.
Los Angeles-based post-production facility Complete Post selected Accom's Abekas 6000 DTV server to improve workflow in post production. The Abekas frees up Complete Post's telecine and audio equipment by allowing operators to transfer an entire roll of film to the. Abekas and play it back immediately to synchronize video with audio.
Fox Digital chose a 12-bit video and 24-bit audio fiber optic transport system from Multidyne for use in their coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
QVC selected a custom-built server-based integrated post and production solution from Quantel for use in its new facility outside Tokyo. The system will be used to record, archive, edit and transmit up to 15 hours of live programming a day. The new facility and programming is set for launch in April 2001.
Canadian network YTV upgraded its AMS Neve Libra console to a Libra Post system and its two AudioFiles to SCs. The upgraded systems will enable the children's television network to handle large projects with increased operational speed.
Manhattan-based TRA Productions selected the Libra Post digital mixing console for use in its new 2500 square foot facility. The production company specializes in MIDI music and has provided sound design for Sesame Street for over 20 years.
Gray Communications purchased more than $19 million worth of equipment from Harris, including DTV transmitters, encoders, and master control and monitoring units. Harris recently completed the first installation at WRDW in Augusta, GA. The remainder of the equipment will be installed in Gray stations throughout 2001.
KLJA-TV, a bilingual station serving the Hispanic community in Los Angeles, recently purchased three Hitachi Z-3000W cameras, as well as display monitors for previewing its programs in the control room. The station recently upgraded to fully digital operation.
Sony's Oxford digital console has been installed in the music room of NBC's Studio 6A for use on production of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The console is being used to mix the house band and special music guest acts for the show.
CNN announced a decision to use Virage's Video Application Platform for its digital archive project, encompassing more than 100,000 hours of video footage. CNN currently uses the platform to index incoming feeds and provide journalists with immediate access to video information at their desktops.
Virage's video indexing technology will also be integrated into Keops Broadcast's MediaWorks digital asset management system to allow automatic capture of video metadata into the server and simplify searching and retrieval of video assets.
ESPN is using a full suite of Vinten AutoCam robotic camera systems for sports programming in its production center in Bristol, CT. Systems in use in Studio C include four new SP-2000/X-Y pedestals, four HS-2010RED pan and tilt heads, and an ACP-8000 controller.
Fox affiliate KDVR in Denver also purchased Vinten's AutoCam robotic camera systems.
The Telemundo Network is using the Associated Press' ENPS to produce news, entertainment and weather segments for its program, Esta Manana.
Florida station WFSU-TV is using over 50 camera robotics systems from Telemetrics for coverage of government sessions in the state legislature.
Canadian broadcaster ROBTv purchased StarDRIVE Automation and an OpenMedia newsroom system from A.N.N Systems.
Sonic Foundry announced its Media Services division will be providing extended service offerings. The division offers users integrated turnkey systems handling content acquisition, management, repurposing and implementation. It also assists with storage, management and delivery of rich media content, as well as content distribution and webcasting and hosting services.
Videotek's Spyderweb System was recently awarded the 1999 SBE Technology Award. The award is given for innovative items or ideas that further broadcast engineering and allow broadcast engineers to be more productive in their field.
North Carolina station WRAL-TV used YEM's HD-MPEG2 encoder and decoder to transmit the world's first all-HDTV newscast on Oct. 13, 2000. YEM's equipment allowed for live HD transmission via digital microwave.
AZCAR recently purchased systems integration company Synergistic Technologies for approximately $4.5 million.
WXLV-TV in Winston-Salem, NC, purchased a stacked antenna system from Dielectric.
Devlin Design Group created a new look for NBC affiliate KSL-TV in Salt Lake City.
Clarification: In the October Systems Design Showcase on XETV, the project architects were incorrectly identified as Barbrow, Thomas and Associates. The correct identification for the firm is Bobrow/Thomas and Associates.
SGI, Discreet provide election numbers NBC, MSNBC and CNBC utilized nine SGI Onyx2 systems running Discreet frost in their recent coverage of "Decision 2000." The combination of SGI systems with Discreet's real-time graphics solution allowed NBC to render 3D images and text in real time, using data from SGI 1400M servers connected to the Voter News Service.
NBC also provided viewers with real-time poll results, using SGI 230 Windows NT, OS-based visual workstations and 1600SW flat panel displays to collect poll data and send it to the servers.
Other stations using SGI and Discreet systems for election coverage include CBS, CNN, ABC and Fox NewsChannel.
Panasonic shoots Teddy Bears' Picnic Digital production company Visionbox Pictures is currently in post production on the feature Teddy Bears' Picnic, written and directed by Harry Shearer. The feature is set at an exclusive resort and centers around the corporate retreats taken by rich and powerful men.
Visionbox Pictures shot the feature with Panasonic's AJ-PD900WA 2/3-inch DVCPRO50 Progressive camcorder. Vision-box is currently in post production on the feature. They go online for color correction and compositing. The company will output a DigiBeta tape for immediate use and then transfer the feature to film. The estimated release date for Teddy Bears' Picnic is late spring 2001.
Fujinon captures underwater world The National Park Service is working with the U.S. Geological Survey to produce a film on the sealife of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. The 26-minute film, tentatively titled "The Underwater World of Glacier Bay," will be shown at the park's visitor center and on cruise ships visiting the park.
John Brooks, Producer/Director of Photography with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shot the film on a Panasonic AJ-HDC 20A DVCPRO HDcam, and captured topside and underwater images with Fujinon's HA36x10.5BERD and HA10x5.2BERM HD lenses. He faced numerous challenges in producing the film, including near-freezing water temperatures and raging currents, as well as a not easily accessible remote location.
NFL teams practice with Panasonic The Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens recently purchased Panasonic DVCPRO camcorders to replace the Beta SP currently in use. The football teams will use the camcorders and a DVCPRO studio editing VTR to record football practices and games for coaching analysis. The VTRs digitize material into an Avid Sports Pro NLE editor for output to PCs at the coaches' stations. The teams have also used the equipment in training camps and preseason games.
